ninan.org

Frances

Girls' name · Early 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~188,100 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#318 among girls
Births in 2025
966 600,721 since 1880
Typical age
74 years, median

Frances popularity over time

Frances rank by birth year, 1880–2025Frances ranked #42 in 1880 and #318 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #8, in 1918.#10#100#1,000#318best #8 in 191818901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1918: 16,229 births recorded as Frances. It is present from 1880, the first year of the record. It has held a top-100 place in 76 separate years.

As of 2025 the name sits at #318, with 966 births that year. Compared with 2015, births are up 56%. Year on year the rank improved by 57.

Babies named Frances per yearPeaks at 16,229 births in 1918.16,229 in 1918018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Frances?

An estimated 188,100 living Americans are called Frances. That is out of 600,721 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Frances?

The typical living Frances is 74 years old. Most living bearers were born in the 1940s. By the site’s era rules that makes Frances a early 20th-century perennial name.

Your Frances

Ages of living people named FrancesHalf of living Francess are older than 74 and half younger.median 74020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Frances is most common

The name is concentrated in District of Columbia, at 5.0× the national rate. Maine, Oregon and Alabama follow.

Where Frances is used more than average5 states use the name Frances more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: 2.9× the national rateMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: 2.4× the national rateMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: 2.8× the national rateORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 5.0× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: 2.5× the national rateALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Frances is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
District of Columbia 71 5.0×
Maine 48 2.9×
Oregon 188 2.8×
Alabama 235 2.5×
Minnesota 263 2.4×

Frances in England and Wales

ONS recorded 112 births named Frances in 2025, ranking it #379.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Frances comes from

From Old French Franceise, feminine form of Franceis, from Late Latin Franciscus (“Frankish”). Doublet of Francesca, Francisca.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Frances

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Frances McDormand American actress 1957 83
Frances Arnold Nobel prize winning US scientist and engineer 1956 77
Frances Hodgson Burnett English-American playwright and author 1849–1924 73
Frances Marion American journalist, author, film director and screenwriter 1888–1973 54
Frances Allen American computer scientist 1932–2020 47
Frances Cleveland First Lady of the United States from 1886 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897 1864–1947 46
Frances Conroy American actress 1953 42
Frances Fisher American actress 1952 37
Photo credits (7)

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/frances.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).